The Swashbucklin' Renegade
by Mazzyandmilk
Summary: Jak Calico Dagger was expected to be a Wizard, but a kidnapping from the Armada turns him into a different type of wizard... a swashbuckling one. From there, he must organise a crew and take on the Armada and destroy them, but to also get riches and fame... because every pirate likes to be rich!
1. Hostage

**The Swashbucklin' Renegade**

It was an average day in Skull Island: the birds singing, the sun shining… Avery's Court was full of activity. The Free Trader had gotten more sales than usual. He didn't know if he was authorised to sell guns to young children, but he was getting money! Money! He loved the sight of it.

The golden Life Fountain was granting health to every pirate who had decided to take on the Cutthroat gang in Skull Mountain. They had all failed so far. The sharks' swords had gone almost through their skulls, but the magical fountain had saved them before the rusty swords decided on their deaths. There was no pirate that was willing to take on the aggressive fish, and Captain Avery was running out of options. He really wanted his jade amulet back…

Under all of the bustling excitement that was Skull Island in the early morning, there was a blot in the sun. The mysterious ship was sailing high over the floating island, and it was emanating darkness. For some reason, the townsfolk hadn't realised that there was a large galleon drifting above their little homes. Yellow wood lined the ship, with spots of black in places. Long and ferocious cannons were stuck out of the ship. Their jet black colours added to the sadism that the ship was presenting.

Draconic wing sails; they were also black, being held up by gilded poles that rose high above the ship. They fluttered in the calm wind, pushing the ship forward to its destination. The deck of the ship was not much of a change; it had dull, grey wood instead of lively brown wood.

Instead of a pirate captain standing on the ship commandeering it, there was a soldier, dressed in drab clothing, the same as before. Greys, blacks, whites… The only presentation of colour on the humanoid was a red feather on the top of its black and white captain's hat and gold leaf which was lined on its clothing. A metallic small grey gear was embroidered onto the front of it. The red feather represented life; but this soldier had none of it.

A white mask was on its face, instead of conventional features. The mask had a golden trim on it, which shined as the sun beamed. The heat on its mask was warm; other than that, the lifeless soldier was completely cold. It didn't have a heart. All it had were gears and cogs working inside it. A pirate would call this captain a 'soldier of the Armada', but a normal human would call it a life-sized toy. That would be all, until it would attack the human.

A wooden musket crafted with adept skill was rested on the side of the wheel it was steering. The top was made out of shining iron; the gun was new. The back of the stock was a golden colour. This Armada soldier was fairly important, and the silver medal on its grey trench coat would tell you that.

Three other automatons were also on the ship. They were sat down on the deck, all in the exact same sitting position. A pirate would call them an 'Armada Marine'. Their bulwarks were sat behind them. The sharp blades would normally shine with the excited sun sparkling them with light, but the marines blocked them.

Grey attire was also fitted onto them, with silver plates covering them, acting as armour. The heavy black shields that they carried were on their lap. The soldiers were waiting for a command. They didn't converse or anything, they were just hostile robots, waiting for the captain to order them to do something.

The similar white mask was also shrouding the face, but it was not lined with gold. These marines were just ordinary soldiers, out of the thousands that were in service – and battling pirates now. Their masks would crack as the pirates would send their falchions straight through the metal neck, driving straight through the cogs and out of the other side. The pirates had no mercy; and neither did the clockworks.

The ship had stopped for some reason; even the captain didn't know why. It frantically tried to work out the problem; eventually the townsfolk would look up and see an Armada ship floating right above them. It'd be a frenzy! The pirates would soon be out and the cannons would be firing at the weak bottom of the ship. The prisoner…

He was slowly waking up. Inside the ship was the engines that were secretly powering the ship, but there was also a single jail cell. Beyond the formidable iron bars that would keep the prisoners inside, there was a boy. His emerald eyes attempted to find light to sparkle vigorously, but there was none. The boy found himself awake, and he saw darkness everywhere. His eyes adjusted to the absence of light. His slightly pale skin would show himself well, but his brown hair wouldn't. It draped over his face slightly, decreasing his already poor vision into a black mess. He swiped his hair back, and he finally saw a smidge of light.

He walked around a bit in the cell, trying to make something out of the situation he was in. Last time he remembered, he was in bed in a nice warm dorm. Now he was in a cold black cell… which didn't even have a door. He wondered how he was put in here.

He stepped over something, which almost made him slip onto the ground and kiss the splintered wood with his head. He got himself up on one knee and he inspected the thing.

Upon further examination, the child found out it was a vent, and it was bolted shoddily. He tugged at the bars with power; he was putting all of his strength into the vent. Wherever he was, he was a hostage, and he didn't want to be a hostage anymore. After some more pulling, the bolts finally became loose. He threw the bolts away, the pieces of metal slamming into the wooden wall.

He hoisted the vent up, tossing it backwards. There was a clang and the boy was gone, sliding into the cramped vent. It was just big enough for his tall and slim posture. It was a bit of a squeeze, but he fit in there. He pulled himself forward like a turtle. He eventually got out of the grey metal vent, finding another cover. It was open for some reason, and he pushed it off the vent, curling out of the vent.

There were three ways: back to the jail cell, backwards to the engines, and forward up some stairs. Curiously, he went back to the jail cell. As he walked, the tired wood creaked with anguish. A floorboard almost snapped as he went over it. His green eyes shifted on something: a board with some text on it. His name… Jak Calico Dagger… that was right…

_How'd they know my name?_ Lots of thoughts exploded in his mind, making his brain almost implode. He almost could feel the pieces of shrapnel of his brain bounce inside his skull. Jak read on more, each word making him more curious.

Reason for capture… that was empty. _So the teenager-thieves didn't even know why they captured me! _His fists clenched slightly. He wanted to sort this out with the people that had decided for some inexplicable reason to take him hostage. As soon as his neck turned, he saw a block of wood and iron. He curiously picked it up and he set it on its side, expecting it to do something. He bashed it on the ground. Shock waves ricocheted through the stock and up to the barrel. Jak discovered it was a musket, a type of gun. He had heard about these in the Spiral before. This particular one fired out blue sparks of electricity.

Jak threw it into his hands and he ran upwards, almost tripping on a loose nail in the floorboards. He stumbled into the wall, which made him drop the gun. The stock bounced onto the wood, making the gun spin a bit. Jak instantly picked it up again with certain clumsiness. Unbeknownst to him, the curved piece of metal that he accidentally pressed was the trigger, and it instantly released an aggressive spark of purple-blue energy.

Jak was met with extreme fright as the electricity flew at a blinding speed into the yellow chrome engines that were chugging along, releasing tainted gasses that filled the room. As soon as the pulsating bullet hit one of the engines, it invaded the metal, bursting the engine. Instead of releasing light grey smoke, black smoke was being exhaled by the damaged engine. The disease soon spread to the other engines, making the whole lower deck begin to smoke up with terrible poisons.

Jak widened his eyes as another engine burst. He made a quick escape, dashing away from the dark grey ghost trying to engulf him in noxious gasses. He ran up the steps, but he was halted by three humanoids. One of them bashed him with its shield, making him fall onto the ground. His back was immediately shaken, and pain was circulating in the spine. He got up grudgingly and inspected the soldier that was running at him. It didn't seem to care about the smoke filling the whole room.

Instead of an enraged voice that would offend even a giant, a monotone voice was emitted from the soldier. "The prisoner has escaped!"

It took a few seconds for Jak to address the fact that these automatons were trying to destroy him and they had voices that sounded like a terrible actor on their first performance. Jak's idle stance allowed him to be grabbed by the soldier. The soldier closed his arms round the boy, but he managed to bash the clockwork in the face with the stock of the gun. The soldier granted him to leave the soldier's grip as it slowly fell down to the ground.

Jak decided not to question why they had masks. He covered his mouth and nose with his tattered shirt as he pulled the trigger, kicking the stock back into his shoulder forcefully as it released a shot. He staggered backwards as the electricity was blocked by the shield that the marine had. The shield absorbed the blue force rather well, but the soldier staggered a bit and fell. Jak looked in astonishment; the robot had been shocked by the electricity!

Jak ran up the stairs hastily, blocking the marine's advance with the bulwark. Fatigue crept up his legs as he ran faster. His breathing was getting dramatically more intensive. He was blinded as the sun met his gaze with a ray of light. He blinked as he got to the top of the deck, his eyes wiggling about frantically for an escape route. He was only met with the captain of the ship, who looked upon him as if he was Death himself.

Jak glanced at his gun, instantly raising it up to fire. If Jak knew that he was fighting a master, then he would've been frozen with fear. The officer had a dull, grey coat, lined with gold. That didn't change the fact that the captain had a gun, and that it was firing at Jak.

The wisps of blue energy collided with Jak's leg, making him roll back. His leg felt like it was on fire, but that didn't stop him. He feebly got up on his leg, sprinting over to the captain.

"You've made an enemy of the Armada!" the captain spoke out. Its voice was still void of life

It fired again. Jak ducked low and the shot went over his head, slicing through a sail. The sail didn't like it, and so it decided to catch on fire. The heat that was fired over Jak's head only made him more determined to destroy this beast. The musket released a shot on the move, swimming into the captain's torso. It pulsated with blue electricity. The clockwork soldier didn't feel pain. It didn't feel anything as Jak smashed the musket stock into its chest, making it fly backwards and into the sky. The red feather that was on the hat fluttered about, disconnected from the hat.

Jak's leg was slowly turning into a balefire of electrical pains. He staggered around a bit, messing with his gun. His hands and the gun parted contact when he saw the two Armada marines sprint out of the bottom deck. The gun was already on the floor, and his hands were shaking. The soldiers were moving at a fast speed; they would already be near Jak before he could fire off a shot. He did the only thing he could do, and that is walk back – into nothing.

Jak felt his tired feet walk on air; he had accidentally walked off the back of the deck, and he was dropping at a high speed down to Skull Island. He felt his hair almost fly off his head as his eyelashes were almost plucked off his face by sheer force. All he could do is scream and watch the ship slowly go down…

* * *

Jak's eyes slowly opened, his emerald eyes now dulled by frantic moments. The bright tints of his eyes were diminished. He looked around the room in blunt curiosity, seeing many sights of rare items. Below the chair he was sitting on was a very nice rug, woven with all sorts of colours in mind. He glanced to the right of himself, seeing many antiques. He finally decided to look forward, but when he did, he wished he hadn't.

Jak saw an image of an old, tall pirate and an owl pecking at his shoulder. The pirate wore a vast dark green coat which draped over his knees, almost up to his ankles. A black shirt with gold buttons and gold lining was shrouded slightly by the coat. A huge brown leather belt with a gold buckle secured the remainder of the shirt, which acted as a sort of a loin cloth.

The parrot's talons were sunk into the old pirate's brown gloves. The body of the parrot was cream, with a gold medallion with a bone outline on it. The old pirate had a white moustache, curled perfectly. Under that, there was a long beard that complimented the white sash on the neck of the attire. Most of the old pirate's locks were covered by the broad black hat that was lined with a golden trim. A tan feather was rustling around.

Jak examined the pirate, seeing his piratic shoes with gold buckles. _Is everything gold on this guy? _he thought. Images of famous pirates were clouding up his brain; not anything like what this man looked like.

Jak didn't feel any pain for some reason. He thought he would be dead. He shouldn't be milling around on this red padded chair, he should be a blood splat on the floor. Jak shook that eerie thought away, out of his brain. He visualised the dark thought drifting away… he must be going mad.

The pirate's blue eyes met Jak's emerald eyes. Jak's eyes were full of fatigue.

The parrot's feathers swung about as its head tilted to hear the man speak. "Greetings, pirate!" he began. "I am Captain Avery, owner of Avery's Court here in Skull Island!"

Jak decided to stay silent. He was trying to comprehend all of this information.

"Ah… I see you're still recovering. That fall you did must've shaken you a bit." Avery sounded sympathetic.

"Well… yes, I almost died… I don't know how I didn't."

"You were quite lucky indeed… You fell into the Life Fountain, which prevented you from getting killed."

Jak's mouth stayed shut. He didn't know what a Life Fountain was, nor did he care. He just wanted to get away from this place.

"I don't know why the Armada are after you, but it must be for a reason. I can hide you, but I do run a pirate haven, not a charity. I'll need an incentive."

Jak shook his head. "No…"

Avery's eyebrow rose, giving a puzzled expression off. "Well, the Armada is definitely persistent. If they want you, they'll take you."

"No… no…" Jak began to explode. "One minute I'm in a nice dorm and stuff, now I'm apparently a pirate? I'm having weird robot things trying to chop my face off with huge axes…"

"Well, you must be a pirate now." Avery paused, trying to think of a persuasive point. "A ship! Doesn't every pirate want a ship? If you help me, I'll get you a ship."

"No… I'm not a pirate. I'm a wi—"

"Doesn't every little child want to be a pirate?" Avery grinned rather sheepishly.

Jak felt his face getting warm. It was a result of the fiery rage building up inside him as a result of being called a 'little child'.

"There could be some shiny gold going into it as well. You could be a captain and have your own crew! All you need to do for me is—"

"No! I don't need your ship or gold!" Jak retorted with bubbling anger, like a chemical reaction. "All I want is…uh…to be back at home…"

"I'm afraid you don't have much choice. Wherever you came from, the Armada made a lot of effort getting to that place." Avery took a deep breath. "What's your name?"

After a few seconds, Jak finally answered. "Jak." He spat the word.

"Jak… well Jak, one of my… more wilful crewmen stole a very valuable jade amulet from me."

"Okay, whatever…" Jak wasn't really listening.

Avery spread his arms in delight and proudness. "Look around this room. It is full of all of the items that I have collected over the years!" Avery's eyes were brilliant.

"Uh-huh…" Jak looked bored.

"I have guns, goblets, amulets… anything you can say, I'll have it."

Jak's eyes suddenly brightened up. "Do you have any Storm spell cards? Or wands?"

"…Sorry?"

"Never mind…" Jak slumped back into his seat, his eyes dead again. His brown hair once again swooped over his eyes. "Fine, I'll do your thing. And then you'll give me a ship, right?"

"Yes… I promise." Avery cleared his throat. "I'll tell you about the jade amulet thief. His name is Fin Dorsal, and he's a Cutthroat with a bad attitude. He wears a grey vest, and he holds two blades. His tattoos are… very interesting to say the least."

"Sorry, but what's a cutthroat?" Jak expected the worst. There were talking robot toys with giant bulwarks, but what would be next? It had been nothing like at home.

"Cutthroats? They are the meanest sharks around. They're cunning and vicious. They're also traitors. They're quite proficient with blades."

"Okay… will I have anyone to help me on this extremely safe quest…?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well, I can give you a weapon, like a sword or a gun. What would you prefer?"

"A wand." Jak answered, with a glint of excitement in his eyes. That would die down when Avery told him that he has no wands.

"I could get a crew for you…" Avery tapped into his brain, trying to think of something. "Ah! I have the perfect pirate for you! He's been looking for work under a Captain's accord, but nobody has allowed him into their crew. I'm sure he'll be perfect for you!"

"O-kay… where do I find this… pirate?"

Avery's response was halted as the doors of the building blasted open. Jak twisted his neck round to see a blue humanoid frog with red spots painted all over it.

Jak blinked and saw a ripped stained loin cloth cover its lower body. The frog was holding a bottle with some purple liquid in it.

"Ey… err… Avery… got any work for me yettt?" The frog burped, and the purple bottle almost hugged the ground as the frog loosened its grip on the drink.

"Well, isn't that just a coincidence? This Pirate here can accept you into his crew, and you can go help him get my Jade Amulet back!" Avery gleamed, much to Jak's discontent.

Jak got up out of the padded red chair, pushing it aside. The amphibian staggered over to him.

"What… are you?" Jak sceptically asked. His hopes weren't high.

"Oh, Captain! I'm a Troggy, amphibian warrior of the skiesss… My other clan members went all rogue on you pirates and so, I turned to a life of drinking to relieve my stresssss…" the Troggy replied. He uttered every word with intoxicated difficulty.

"Okay… fine…" Jak sighed with contempt. He turned to Avery. "Where do we have to go?"

"Fin Dorsal is in Skull Mountain. Go along the bridge to where the cannons are being fired, and past the gate and bridge. Find Bonnie Anne. Be careful however, because the Troggies have decided anarchy is the best option for frog supremacy."

Jak decided not to make sense out of that speech. He began to walk with the Troggy outside of the building. Jak pushed the door open, the light shining on his face once again. His emerald eyes finally met the sun again. His irises shone.

He looked behind him, seeing the Troggy bump into a statue rather clumsily. Jak went ahead. He knew that it would take the frog a few hours to get to Skull Mountain. As he walked to the bridge, he appreciated the wonderful view of the court. He'd have to come back and visit it later, and then go home.

The Troggy finally got to the bridge, the red spots on the Troggy gleaming luminously. The bottle had gone, and even the Troggy didn't know where it went.

"Okay… let's go…uh…what's your name?" Jak asked.

The Troggy drunkenly replied, hiccups supplying the evidence of his drunkenness. "My name? My name is Zingggg…"

Jak barely made out his reply, but he persevered. "Okay Zing… let's do this, I guess…"

They went into Skull Mountain.


	2. Troggies

Jak looked down at the brown ladder, inspecting its mossy features. He walked over it carefully, scared that the tired rope might give way and let Jak fall down into the Skyway. Jak had no idea what wonders were held outside of the island; he assumed it would be like in Wizard City, where you are told specifically not to jump off the island, unbound by its safety. If Jak was to have a ship, where was the water? There was none – just sky. Jak would have to figure all of it out later.

Jak's eyes were brilliant when he saw the vast greens of the huge jungle; the tall trees towering over him; the bright green leaves clinging onto them. Jak was invigorated; he wanted to forget about this jade amulet and just explore. Wizard City didn't have this kind of beauty that this Skull Mountain had. Jak walked up to a lushly colourful plant. The petals seemed magical to Jak; did any other flower have this intense colour?

Of course, all fun things must come to an end, and Zing appeared behind Jak drunkenly. Jak got quite a fright having an icky oversized frog behind him, and he almost screamed. After he discovered it was Zing, he simply sighed with contempt. He knew that this adventure to simply beat up a 'cutthroat' and take a necklace would be wild – especially with a frog that somehow wasn't dead yet, considering his addiction to alcohol… or Yum, whatever that is.

Before Jak could say anything, Zing started first, "Ah, Captain… welcome to Skull Mountain… It's a nice place, provided you avoid the poisonous frogsssssss…"

"Yeah, thanks for that." Jak sighed, wondering if this nightmare really was a dream. His emerald eyes shifted along the place, inspecting the bright environment more. There was a lot of green; Jak could definitely confirm that. The area was overlooked by a beautiful sky. There were no clouds ruining the image, which made the sun happy. The huge star would not need to battle with the clouds for vision.

"Alright, where we do we start firs—" Jak was in the middle of saying something, but he was interrupted by a blue Troggy with a long metal spear in his left hand, and a half-beat up wooden buckler in the other hand. It croaked with anger, and it rammed its spear against the shield, probably making it crack. Jak was about to speak again, but he was stopped by the livid amphibian croaking at him rather rabidly. It looked like it was about to kill him with a deathly stare with its bulbous orange eyes.

"Zing, what is that frog doing?" he asked frantically. He was considering that the frog was about to spear him, and he guessed right. Jak rolled back into the grass, seeing the Troggy shake about violently. It looked crazy.

"Captain, get yourself ready before the Troggy spikes you with that spear he's gotttt!" Zing yelled, grabbing a bottle of Yum that he was drinking. The bottle was purple in colour, with a purple liquid inside it.

Jak jumped up, seeing the Troggy rush at him again. Jak stepped back clumsily, stumbling onto his backside with a lack of finesse. Jak was lucky not to receive a metal blade in his throat. The Troggy jumped back, spotting Zing – but it was too late. Zing had already presented his battle cry (an intoxicated burp) and the Troggy was regretting not spotting him earlier. Zing continued to clobber the frog in the face, fuelled by drink. Once he was finished, Jak looked at the ranine, who had a rather messed up face. Jak felt a bit sick.

"H-How'd you do that, Zing…?" Jak, tripping over his tongue, was having trouble speaking.

Zing thought of an answer in less than a second (intoxicated frogs are good at thinking), which surprised the ex-wizard student. "Alcohol, son…" he croaked.

Jak threw himself off the grass, attempting to get rid of the mud that had decided to get on his clothes. He began to walk forward, the mud splattering under his dirty boots. "Wow… maybe I should take up a life of drinking…" Jak replied cynically. He continued to walk on, assuming that Zing would follow him.

Zing was in fact resting against a tree, taking more swigs of his alcohol with his eyes closed. He did not notice that Jak had already gone forward to find Bonnie Anne. "Yes, Jak. It's rather fuuunnnn…" Zing croaked. His eyes opened, and he discovered that the kid was gone. He got off the tree, walking forward to find him (but not without finishing his bottle, which delayed him significantly).

Jak continued to go along the dirt road. He stopped suddenly when he saw something, making his sparkly green eyes squint. There was some sort of a humanoid with a long tail and a gun. Curious, Jak went forward, and he discovered that it was a fox.

Jak looked the fox up and down, seeing a red bandana on top of her orange head, her ears fluttering in the wind. Her yellow eyes blinked. The fox seemed interested in watching pirates destroy Troggies. He went forward again to talk to her.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed the white shirt that revealed her shoulders for some reason. Her dark blue danced with the breeze. The hands that were holding the large weapon were covered in brown gloves.

Jak gulped, thinking about how he would address the fox. He finally decided to speak. "Uh... hello, madam. Is your name Bonnie Anne?"

As soon she opened her mouth to reply, he noticed that there was something different about her accent. It sounded like something that Jak had heard before when he went on holiday in Marleybone. "Yes, I am. Are you the pirate that Cap'n Avery was talkn' about?"

"Uh, yes, ma'am." Jak spoke awkwardly, as if he didn't know what to say. He hoped that the vulpine character didn't notice it.

Bonnie Anne chuckled. "There's no need to call me madam, Pirate." She laughed some more, to which Jak laughed to, but with a large tint of nervousness.

"You see those Troggies over there?" Bonnie Anne pointed to one, who was in a quarrel with another Troggy. They were mutually angry; each one wanted to shove its food in its eye and its hand in the other. "Those are the slimy devils ye're supposed to be… teachin' a lesson. We would've been done with 'em by now, but there's too many!" Bonnie Anne paused. "Go soften them up a bit, and then come back. I'll help ye find Fin."

"Okay, thanks…" Jak replied. "I'll be going now, with my… companion Zing." He figured he would have to go and fetch Zing, and he was right. He was just about go, when Bonnie Anne started speaking again.

"Oh, I almost forgot; in Skull Mount'in, there are three types of Troggy: Warriors, Hunters and Chieftains. I'm sure you'll find out what weapons they use when ye fight 'em. Good luck!"

"Alright…" Jak was gone already; he was searching for Zing. He found him rather quickly; face first in the ground. Jak grabbed his hand vigorously, yanking him upwards forcefully. Zing woke up pretty swiftly after that. He wiped the mud off his face, croaking drunkenly. Jak sighed again, almost giving up on life.

Still, he surged forward like a crusader, despite all of the odds being against him. His neck twisted around, telling his head to look for potential frogs to assault and "teach a lesson".

"Well Jak, it's time for the frog renegadeeeee…" Zing clung to his bottle, probably almost shattering it. Jak looked back, seeing the Troggy swing the bottle about like a baby with a toy. He would have to keep out of the way of that glass weapon; or he might be bludgeoned by accident.

"Yeah, I guess. It's time to batter some frogs. Maybe they'll learn something."

The duo walked deeper into the jungle. Jak was closely focused on the Troggies that were hopping about; Zing was focused on nothing. Jak's eyes widened when he saw three Troggies attempting to maul a pirate, who was trying to fight back with a measly silver shortsword.

"Zing! That pirate!" Jak pointed at the pirate, rushing towards him to assist him. Before he entered battle, Jak noticed that he was tall and thin, with tattered black and red clothes. Jak gained altitude as he attempted to fly forward into a jumping kick, but he soon remembered that he wasn't very athletic and he had no skill whatsoever with flying jump kicks. His brown boot hit the Troggy, but he flipped backwards onto his rear, leaving himself open for attack. The Troggy noticed that he was there, and it raised its crudely crafted battleaxe in anger. It swung it towards the defenceless Jak, but it sunk into the mud, being eaten by the ground.

Jak didn't know what was going to happen next; he was visibly shocked when the crazy frog kicked him in the face with relentless force. As soon as the amphibian had kicked him, he was screaming for help, his jaw aching.

Zing was nearby, but he was engrossed in making a castle out of mud. As soon as he had heard the familiar voice, he sprung up, his bottle eager to be engrossed as well – in a frog's skull. His tongue flapped in the wind as he rushed towards Jak and the Troggy – who was trying to get his battleaxe out of the mud. Jak had managed to get himself stuck in the mud.

Zing leaped at the Troggy, swinging his bottle onto its head, making it crack into several pieces. The Troggy was stunned, recovering a few seconds after. The battleaxe was out of the grappling mud – in vain. Zing had access to his head a second time – and he took the opportunity. The other Troggy was knocked a metre back, making it shriek like a disgruntled toad. It swung backwards, making a big mess when it fell.

Jak got himself out of the mud, once again attempting to get it off his clothes. He'd need his dad to cast the cleaning spell for him—oh wait… Jak reminded himself he was not a majestic wizard; he was a foul pirate – and a bad one at that. Jak grabbed the battleaxe that the Troggy had dropped; he wouldn't need it anyway. He took the mud off it and he examined it. It was fairly shiny, probably being recently crafted. A few colourful feathers were on the battleaxe. They were rather tattered.

Jak remembered that there was another Troggy, and he just avoided its swipe with its spear. Zing was gone again, leaving Jak to deal with the Troggy. He could see the pirate beating the Troggy up with the back of his shortsword.

Before he went for an attack, he inspected the Troggy: blue, with orange spots all over the body, but not the underbelly, which was a tan colour. Orange eyes that stick out, with oval shaped black pupils constantly moving to look at things. A long, slender pink tongue, occasionally slashing at the air. The Troggy had a band on its head with a few feathers; tattered like the ones on Jak's battleaxe. Red, blue and yellow. _The primary colours_, Jak thought as he somehow avoided getting a sharp spear in his shoulder again. It was time to actually think about the combat situation. Jak readied himself, and he ran towards the Troggy at such speed, even its own eyes couldn't follow him. He sent his battleaxe to the left, slashing through the Troggy.

It made a high pitched croak, then an angry one. Jak walked back, trying to recover. He was not particularly skilled at fighting. Before long however, the Troggy was at him again, and he received the butt end of a pole ramming into his rib. He felt the pain quickly, yelping like a mouse that had its tail stepped on.

He rubbed his chest, feeling it throb. Energy was draining out of him. He lifted his battleaxe again, swiping it downwards just as the Troggy leaped at him. The blade cut into its head, making it make a shrill screeching sound. Jak kicked it in its stomach, making it walk back a few steps. Jak watched as it fell backwards into the mud, becoming a part of the ground.

A volcano of thoughts erupted into Jak's mind: he was lucky that the Troggy made an error: instead of ramming a sharp blade into Jak's chest, it was a blunt, damp pole. It was a surge of significant force however, and it hurt the kid significantly. He thought about it again, and he thought about how he was _very _lucky to not have a metal spear penetrating through his body, and he was lucky to be alive.

_These frogs are mad,_ he thought. _Could this get any crazier?_

Unfortunately for him, this was only the beginning. He also thought about the disgust that he had expressed when Zing had savagely destroyed that Troggy, and now he was doing it himself. _Self-defence,_ he thought. Jak would've called himself a hypocrite, but that Troggy bounded at him at a crazy speed. If he hadn't disposed of that frog, the frog would've disposed of him, and then the jade amulet never would've been found.

He didn't really care either way; he just wanted to collect the amulet and get that Avery person to get him back to Wizard City. Then he would live in harmony with his dad teaching him magic. He'd learn to be a great wizard and he'd have friends. This place just seemed like an arena; pirates would eventually have to fight each other for their gold, right?

Jak decided not to think anymore, and instead of locking himself in a jail cell of procrastination, he picked up Zing (who was in the process of making a mud mansion) and he walked off with him. The pirate that he saw before was gone, presumably off to Bonnie Anne to get some more errands.

Jak had his head turned to Zing, and he started to speak. "I was a bit savage with that Troggy, Zing…"

"Don't wo-orry Jakko, you'll get used to it. I've been fightin' the good fight since I was four years old." Zing looked at his alcohol stash, suddenly realising that his storage has run dry, suddenly becoming panicked. "Ach… I'm out of liquor. Jak, fancy a drink 't the Kraken Skullssss…?"

Jak doesn't reply, not even knowing what the "Kraken Skulls" is. He walked slowly, still thinking about the pirate business. Maybe he could be a pirate wizard… no, that wouldn't work. He was in a completely different world – he didn't even know if he was in the Spiral any more. He figured that he was, seeing all of the floating islands; but he wasn't sure. There could be floating islands in another world, right?

"Zing, I'm not cut out to be a pirate… I don't even speak like a pirate. To be a proper pirate, you need to speak it, right?"

"Don't be silly, Jak. It's easy to speak like a pirate; just say arrr a lot." Zing replied. He didn't know if he was being serious or not; he was too drunk to tell.

"Well, I want to cast spells, not gut frogs." Jak sourly spoke. He really did not want any more piratic tomfoolery.

Jak saw Bonnie Anne again, standing in the exact same spot she was standing in when Jak had met her for the first time. Jak walked over to her, leaving Zing to be an architect of mud again.

"Hey uhh… Bonnie, we killed some of those rabid frogs for you."

Bonnie turns her head to Jak, who is waiting for her response. To his almighty surprise, she did not scowl him for anything; she grinned, flashing her white fangs. At that time, Jak definitely realised that she was a talking, standing fox. He had seen dogs, but not foxes. _Anthropomorphism is for the strong, _he thought.

"Well done indeed!" Bonnie smiled. "Ye're good t' have around in a fight."

"Uh… well… thanks." Jak decided not to reveal the fact that if it weren't for Zing, Jak would probably be a prisoner in some jungle prison run by frogs. He quickly glanced at Zing, who was now creating some sort of weird ship.

"I'm a girl o' me word, Pirate. I'll help ye find Fin, for whatever purpose ye need 'im for."

"Well, that Avery guy saved me from the clockwork guys, so I guess I should repay him. Fin stole some amulet off him, and he's quite livid about that." Jak clarified. He wasn't particularly in joy about doing tasks for an old man pirate, but it was better than being told to do things by some old man wizard, which would probably happen.

"Well, I would join ye crew, but I have some bus'ness elsewhere," Bonnie Anne continued. "Ye look like a competent cap'n, though."

"Thanks, but I really need to know where that bad shark guy is." Jak replied, slowly running out of patience.

"Oh! Fin? Sorry, I forgot 'bout that. Ye'll find 'im in the Temple of Gloom. I suppose ye don't know where that is."

"No, not exactly. I haven't been here before." Jak looked back, seeing his frog companion bashing a tree with the bottle that he had been trying to leak precious drops of Yum out of for a while.

The drunken frog continued to ram the bottle against the tree. Jak had a bad feeling that the endeavour that Zing was going on was not the best idea. Jak rolled his eyes as the frog bashed it so hard that he lost grip of the bottle, making it fall onto the ground onto his foot. The Troggy slipped on the bottle onto the mud, making a splash of brown mud glide in the air. Jak would have to get him up – again. While this was all happening, Bonnie Anne was explaining how to get to the Temple of Gloom to reach Fin Dorsal. When he looked back, Bonnie Anne asked him if that made sense, and he blindly said yes.

Realising what he had done, he quickly decided that he could have a sense of adventure trying to find this Temple of Gloom by himself. Zing would probably be of no use.

"What's your name, Pirate?" Bonnie Anne asked rather out of the blue, which startled Jak because he was thinking about something.

"Oh, I'm Jak, and my Troggy friend is Zing, over there. He's a bit… drunk." Jak pointed to the frog that was in the process of sleeping in a bed made out of mud.

Bonnie Anne glanced at the frog spread out on the ground, raising an eyebrow, "I ought to go now, Jak. You seem suited to defeat the Armada. Is there any way we can stay speakin'? I could help ye."

Jak thought for a moment, trying to salvage the spell that his dad had taught him, "Well, my Dad taught me a trick that lets people talk to each other – he's a wizard, you see. For some reason, I remember it… I think."

"Ah… well Jak, you can try and teach me. It won't take that long to do, will 't?"

Jak accessed his brain to loot the information that he required, trying to remember how the spell worked. It didn't have to necessarily involve a wand, which was nice. He didn't have a wand, and it seemed that nobody on the island sold them. Or a staff, anything that he could use for magic.

"No, I don't think so." He finally got the formula for the spell out of his brain, getting to work rather quickly. He attempted to get a magic spell working, channelling all of the limited magic power into his hand. Jak felt tingly in his hand, which probably wasn't a good sign. While he was doing this, Bonnie Anne was watching him, interested. Was this new arrival a witchdoctor or one of those fabled wizards that came from a completely different part of the Spiral? She was thinking about that, until Jak's spell became a mess of black as it exploded in his face.

"Augh!" Jak grunted with anger. He wiped the soot off his face, making his hand dirty. His reaction was not delightful.

"Jak, I'm sort 'f pressed for time here, ye know…" Bonnie Anne was thinking about the "business" that she had to do.

"I'll try it again…" Jak spoke through gritted teeth. He was quite frustrated.

After a few minutes, Jak got the spell working somehow, and Jak picked up a brown, jagged stick with a small green leaf on it. He applied the magic spell to it, and he gave it to Bonnie Anne.

"Now, I guess you just touch the leaf or something and speak into it and I'll hear it somehow." Jak explained. Bonnie Anne looked confused, but she accepted it anyway.

She picked up her gun, quickly saying goodbye to Jak and leaving. Jak wondered why she would want to talk to him – maybe she wanted to give him advice while he was getting revenge by brutally destroying those stupid robots.

Jack, with battleaxe in hand, looked around for Zing. To his astonishment, Zing was gone again. Jak couldn't really be bothered to find him again, so he dived onto the grass, sitting down on it. He guessed he'd wait.

After a few minutes, Jak was getting quite angry with the world. Why did he have to have a drunken frog as his crewmate? Why couldn't it have been a human or something normal? Jak groaned. He was just about to get up and leave by himself when he saw Zing in the distance. His eyes squinted to see him better. Upon more inspection, Jak discovered that Zing was wearing a belt that was dirty with a murky brass buckle.

On the belt there were five more bottles of Yum, ready for drinking. Zing had one of the bottles in his hand, ready to take another swig. His attempts to walk were not working; every few seconds, he'd stagger to the left or the right, occasionally croaking or burping. Zing's eyes stared at Jak, suddenly finding him among the mists of drunkenness. As Zing staggered over to Jak, he asked him where he had been, with a pinch of aggression.

"Aye, Jak… I'm just been buying some supplies for the adventure, ye know…" Zing was having trouble finding his words, which made him hard to understand.

"Darn it, Zing… you need to stop drinking that purple stuff…" Jak replied, sighing. "Anyway, let's go find Fin."

Jak walked forward and Zing followed him; it was a miracle. Jak could feel the mud under his boots squelching. His boots were sunk in it, and the soles were purely brown. Finally, he managed to find somewhere that wasn't covered in mud. The dirt path greeted his boots, but not appreciating the mud. He wasn't able to go far however; he bumped into another pirate, making him stumble back onto Zing. The pirate wore a black coat with red. His blue eyes met Jak's as they both realised that they were the pirates who helped each other with the Troggies earlier.

"Oh – hi." Jak spoke awkwardly while he inspected the drab clothes that he wore: red, brown, black… His long black hair barely stood out among the other dark things he had on him. The blue eyes were a change, but they were half covered by the hair. His red tunic caught Jak's attention. Jak was wearing brown under his tattered coat.

"Greetings, pirate!" the pirate replied. "Ye were the pirate that helped me with the frogs?"

"Uh… yes. Glad to meet you." Jak smiled for the first time in a few days. This pirate didn't seem to want to kill him like those Troggies did, which was nice.

"Me name is Dan! I heard yer name is Jak," Dan held his hand out to shake hands, to which Jak took the hand. They shook. "So, what are ye doin' in Skull Mountain?"

"Oh, I'm running a task for that Avery pirate. He said he'd protect me or something if I did a task for him. Oh, and I get my very own ship – to get away from this place."

Dan didn't hear the last bit, because he was busy staring at the Troggy guzzling a bottle of Yum down. "What task?"

"Well, apparently some guy called Fin Dorsal stole a jade amulet from him, which made him angry. He's asked me to get the amulet back."

"Fin Dorsal? I've heard of him; I don't think ye're the first one to be takin' on this quest, Jak," Dan replied. "All 'm saying, is be careful with that shark. Cutthroats ar' aggressive things."

"Yeah, I'll be fine with my trusty drunken Troggy by my side…" The level of sarcasm was at a high level in that comment, making Dan glance over to the Troggy again, who was starting on another bottle.

"Seems like it'll be some hard slog. D'you need me to come along?" Dan asked. "I don't think that Troggy is goin' to help ye."

"Yes, I'd appreciate that. I suppose we can go now." Jak walked off with Dan. Zing saw them leave, and he followed, burping as he went along.

Jak suddenly stopped to look at something. There were a line of large wooden catapults with Troggies carrying barrels of explosives to them. Jak watched as one clumsily put the heavy barrel on the catapult, and another let the catapult go, sending a bomb to roar through the sky. Jak saw one of the chubby men on Skull Island's dock jump as the explosive hit it, letting a few bricks fall into nowhere. The man reciprocated with his own cannon, but it just impacted into the land, doing nothing.

"Uh Dan, do you think we should take a look at that?" Jak questioned quickly as he watched another Troggy dash towards a catapult with two barrels of explosives hopping up and down as the Troggy ran. Jak just waited for one to trip.

Dan noticed the threat rather swiftly, seeing Troggies load more explosives onto a large wooden ballista that was roped together ineptly. The ballista had three barrels about to be unloaded onto the Skull Island dock. The chubby man attempted to fire back, but his aim was awful; worse than the Troggies. He eventually ran when the ballista fired, sending the explosives in the air. They clashed against the brickwork, making more bricks glide off into the distance.

"Yes, Jak. I think we'd oughta."


End file.
